


Bedside Waits

by Gelsey



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 08:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1130298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gelsey/pseuds/Gelsey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The consequences of war are very real to the Cattermole family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bedside Waits

Mary Cattermole sat next to her husband’s bed, alternating between eating her own lunch and urging Reg to eat as well. He would often forget what he was doing in the middle of taking a bite, so while he could feed himself, it took constant supervision that reminded her of her children when they were babies.

St. Mungo’s was a dreary place where shadows lurked not only in corners but in people’s eyes. The Spell Damage Ward was especially depressing, for the shadows contained pity for the hopelessness of the cases housed here.

“Mummy, how long is it going to take Daddy to finish eating? You promised to take me to Amy’s house.” Her youngest daughter, Ellie, pouted at her from her seat on the other side of the bed. Maisie, who was nearly old enough to go to Hogwarts, hushed her younger sister, shooting a worried look at her mother, a look much too grown up for her baby.

She felt her eyes well with tears without her permission. “Soon, Ellie,” she promises, busying herself with cleaning Reg’s chin. “Daddy just takes longer than most people.”

The tears are pushed back, saved for later when she’d alone. Her two youngest had such a hard time understanding; Alfred barely knew who his father was, and Ellie just didn’t get that since that day her Mummy went to the Ministry, her Daddy hadn’t been the same.

It was cold comfort to know that the man who caused her family so much pain – Yaxley, Morgana curse him forever – rotted in Azkaban for the rest of his miserable life. It wouldn’t undo the damage he’d done to her husband after Harry Potter and his friends had escaped the Ministry.

It didn’t help to feed them or clothe them. It didn’t help to find people to watch the children while she worked two jobs.

It didn’t give her children a father again. It didn’t give her husband back to her.

She rose and cleared the food away with a wave of her wand; the nurse had taught her such things early on. “All right, children, say goodbye to your father and we’ll get going.”

Maisie helped to boost Ellie up to kiss her father’s cheek, and then the somber little blonde did so as well, her lower lip held stiff to keep it from wobbling. Sorrowful pride fluttered in Mary’s chest.

She leaned over her husband and gently kissed his forehead after brushing his lank hair back, and then kissed him again, even more softly, on the lips. Reg’s glazed eyes never really acknowledged her.

“I love you, Reg. I’ll be back whenever I can.” He just stared blankly ahead, and she felt her heart break yet again.

She turned away and ushered her two eldest out of the hospital. Why, oh why, couldn’t her family have made it out of this war intact?


End file.
